SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 14: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff speaks during the 2014 DreamForce conference on October 14, 2014 in San Francisco, California. The annual Dreamforce conference runs through October 16. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO — Salesforce.com has backed away from purchasing Twitter, sending the struggling social media company’s stock down on Friday and fueling concerns about its murky future.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that “in this case we’ve walked away. It wasn’t the right fit for us.”

A Salesforce spokeswoman confirmed Benioff’s comments, but said the company had no further comment. Twitter did not immediately respond to inquiries about the potential deal.

With other potential suitors, including Alphabet’s Google and Walt Disney, also reportedly uninterested in purchasing Twitter, the likelihood that the company will be bought appears to be waning. The Financial Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that Twitter’s advisers are still looking for possible buyers but that “the sale process is virtually dead.”

Twitter’s stock on Friday closed down more than 5 percent at $16.88 per share. Salesforce’s stock, on the other hand, closed up more than 5 percent at $74.27 per share.

The social media company, which has 313 million monthly active users, has struggled to grow its audience and hit Wall Street’s expectations. In July, the company’s stock tumbled more than 11 percent in after-hours trading after its second-quarter sales and forecast for third-quarter revenue was lower than expected.

“They just risk making an acquirer look bad for buying it,” said Brian Wieser, an analyst for Pivotal Research. “It’s possible that (Twitter) has to focus on continuing to improve the business and see what happens. It’s also possible that someone else is out there and will provide them with a home.”

From April to June, Twitter raked in $602 million in sales but posted a net loss of $107 million during the second quarter. The company is scheduled to announce its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 27.

Speculation that a major tech firm could purchase Twitter has yet to come to fruition, but the rumors were reignited in September when multiple media outlets reported that Salesforce was having early stage talks about buying the company. Salesforce had attempted to purchase LinkedIn, which has more than 450 million users, but lost out to Microsoft.

Analysts had noted that Twitter might be an odd fit for Salesforce, an enterprise cloud computing company. Twitter could deliver some valuable real-time data for potential suitors and is a major player in digital advertising, but it isn’t geared toward business professionals like LinkedIn. Salesforce already has access to public tweets as part of a partnership it struck with Twitter in 2012.

Benioff told the Financial Times that purchasing Twitter wasn’t a right fit for various reasons.

“You’re going to look at price,” he said. “You’re going to look at culture. You’re going to look at everything.”

While Twitter’s stock benefited from the takeover rumors, Salesforce saw its stock drop more than 6 percent on Oct. 5 amid speculation it was moving closer to a deal.

“It’s been quite a roller coaster ride over the past month, if you look at (Twitter’s) stock,” said Scott Kessler, an analyst with CFRA Research.

There were also reports from Recode that Twitter may be asking potential buyers for at least $30 billion. With the high price tag, some companies might see acquiring Twitter as too risky.

The tech firm has been ramping up its live video efforts, inking deals with the NFL to stream Thursday night football games, and media outlets to broadcast coverage of the presidential debates, in addition to with other partnerships.

“I think a lot of people don’t necessarily want to make a move until they see how the live video and sports strategy has been playing out in their Q3 results and Q4 outlook,” Kessler said.

Queenie Wong covers social media businesses, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, for The Mercury News. She grew up in Southern California and is a graduate of Washington and Lee University where she earned bachelor's degrees in journalism and studio art.

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